Stencil.



, tance from the outline of the characters.

NITED STATES Patented June 27, 1905.

ALBER" .TAHN, OF BERLIN, GERMANY.

STENCIL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 793,376, dated June 27, 1905.

Application filed February 11, 1905. Serial No. 245,200.

To (all, whom it ntmy concern:

Be it known that l, ALBERT JAIIN, a subject of the German Emperor, residing in Berlin, in the Kingdom of Prussia, (irermany,.have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Stencils, of which the following is aspecilication.

ihe present inven tion relates to a stencil for guiding the style, pen, pencil, or the likein the teaching of writing, and has for .its object to facilitate to a material extent learning to write letters, ligures, and other characters, or parts of the same, in their correct forms.

Astencil according to the present invention slightly resembles in its form stencils which are already well known. it is, however, especially distinguished from'the latter in that it provides a guide for the style at one side only, said guides-being such that the characters, or parts of the same, can be made in a single stroke, as in the case of ordinary writing without the use of astencil. The narrow connecting-pieces which in the case of other stencils are necessary in order to hold the stencil together are dispensed with, this being possible on account of the peculiar new arrangement. The invention isillustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 shows a stencil according to the present invention on anenlargcd scale. Fig. 2 shows a stencil in accordance with the present invention having the outlines of certain small (ierman letters. "Fig. 3 shows astencil having certain large or capital (Jrerman ietters. Fig. 4 shows a stencil having smali Roman letters. Fig. 5 shows a stencil having certain large or capital Roman letters, and, Fig. 6 illustrates a stencil having the Arabic numerals.

As can be seen from Fig. 1, in the case of the simple characters the lines forming which do not intersect one another M such as, for example, i, u, ncomparatively wide excisions or openings a are provided for the downstrokes and upstrokes, the guiding edges Y; oi which run parallel to and at a short disin the case of those characters thelines of which cross each other and form loops, such asS C when written as capitals, the middle pieces, which in the case of the well-known stencils are held in position by narrow connecting-pieces, are completely cut away, so that the edges of the excisions or openings thus produced serve on all sides as guides for the style. In the case of letters or other characters or parts of the same in which the guiding edges of the stencil run together and form an acute angle, a point being formed at the vertex when the character is writtenas, for example,in the case of the small German i the change in direction which the style must make when passing from the one guiding edge to the other is positively controlled by means of a supplementary guiding edge (1, forming an acute angle opposite the said vertex, as shown in Fig. 1. 'In'each case the guiding edge is to be so arranged with regard to its position with respect to the line to be written as appears most advantageous for the durability of the stencil. (Compare, for example, the two ts in Fig. 1.) The excisions a are in this case suitably so arranged that the guiding edges running parallel to the outlines to be written, corresponding to the natural position of the style, lie to the right somewhat farther from these lines than on the opposite side, at which the style is guided on the left hand. In order to enable the pupil to readily distinguish between the guiding edges and those edges of the stencil which are not guiding edges, it is further to be recommended to give to those edges 0 which do not serve as guiding edges a corrugated, jagged, notched, or other indented form.

The new stencils can be madeof any suitable material, such as metal, celluloid, vulcanized indie-rubber, cardboard, and the like, in any suitable get-up and arrangement and for ail sorts of written characters and the like or parts of the same.

For the pupil the new writing-stencils ofi'er the toliewing advantages as compared with other well-known contrivances in this sphere of instruction: First, correct forms can be produced from the outset, se that it is impossibie for the pupil to become accustomed to detective handwriting; second, by the possibiiity of immediately recognizing every deviation from the normal form in the case of I secure by Letters Patent, is

characters made free-hand the pupil is able to recognize when the correct forms have been made and when not; third, the uniformity of the written forms is guaranteed.

As far as the teacher is concerned the present invention ofiers the possibility of obtai n ing better results in caligraphy, while r ed'iicing the hours devoted to this art.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to ing of writing, having a continuous excision 20 of a greater breadth than that of the line'to be produced, the edge of said excision having a part forming a smooth guiding edge running parallel to the said line, and an indented part, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. A stencil for guiding a style in the teachning parallel to the said line, parts opposite points at which said guiding edge forms an acute angle being formed as supplementary guiding edges of angular form, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

4. A stencilfor guiding a style in the teaching of writing, having a continuous excision of a greater breadth than that of the line to be produced, the edge of said excision having a part forming a smooth guiding edge running parallel to the said line, and an indented part, parts opposite points at which said guiding edge forms an acute angle formed as supplementary guiding edges of angular form,

substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

In'witness whereof .l have hereunto signed my name, this 28th day of January, 1905, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ALBERT J AHN.

Witnesses:

HENRY HAsrun, WOLDEMAR HAUPT. 

